Monday, February 2, 2009

Lincoln Marsh

Lincoln Marsh

9x12

This small study is from a photograph I took last August. My daughter and I decided to go on a photo-hike through a natural preserve area near our house. This area is part of DuPage Forest Preserve and is a gigantic wetland marsh area. The trails go on for miles and miles. So I've only studied a small portion of what this beautiful area has to offer so far.

My goal is to return at different times of the year to capture the gifts of this natural, magical place.

In this painting I used three transparent greens - sap green, terre verte and olive green. To lighten the greens in the grasses and trees, I added naples yellow and white, which brings the greens back to opaque, not transparent. That's where the paradox comes in. In order to have the transparent glow, the color needs to be painted straight out of the tube and not mixed with any other opaque color. Or it needs to be mixed with another transparent color.

I'm posting what I learn along the way. There is a lot of studying and note taking during my current painting sessions. And I'm painting lots of small studies.

Well, if you are calling this a 'study' I would say it's a very succesful study. I like all the colors you have incorporated in this painting, yet even with so many colors it still has beautiful harmony. Maybe that has something to do with the transparent colors you're using?I look forward to seeing more of your studies.Joan

Thanks for sharing. I love painting those natural overgrown areas. Great idea to study the same area at different times of year. Monet used to do that. He painted the same scene at slightly different times of day to get the subtle variations of light. I think you've inspired me to get back into those small studies.